Introduction
Welcome to your library course guide for CSCI 5115, intended to support your secondary research of your user population. If you have questions on any of the information below, or are having difficulty finding the background information you want, you are welcome to email me (hcabullo@umn.edu) or schedule a research consultation.
- Hannah Cabullo, your Computer Science & Engineering librarian
Find statistics & reports
Introduction
Statistics and reports can give you a general overview of characteristics about your users.
Search tips
- When searching more specific sources, like Statista and Pew Research Center, use general terms like:
- seniors and smartphones
- immigrants and internet access
- When searching Google, add additional keywords like statistics, report, survey, or demographics, to get at the type of information/source you're looking for.
- Try multiple searches with different keywords, and search in multiple places.
Resources
- Statista This link opens in a new windowStatista provides statistical data on many topics including media, business, politics, society, technology and education. Sources include market reports, trade publications, scientific journals, and government databases. Data can be accessed by searching or browsing by industry, topic, country, digital market or infographic. The Global Consumer Survey offers a global perspective on consumption and media usage, covering the offline and online world of the consumer. It is designed to help marketers, planners and product managers understand consumer behavior and consumer interactions with brands.
- GoogleUse Google to find statistics and data. It's also helpful in identifying possible sources for the data i.e. who would collect this data and make it available.
- Pew Research CenterA nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world.
Find scholarly research articles
Introduction
Scholarly articles include primary research other researchers have done with a population, as well as secondary research, like literature reviews, that gather together primary sources to gain a broader understanding of what is known on a topic. Scholarly research articles will likely be much more specific and in-depth than statistics and report-type sources mentioned above.
Search tips
See the two tutorials below for tips on searching library databases. In general, it works better to break your search into keywords rather than using long phrases or sentences like you might use to search Google. For example:
("older adults" OR seniors) AND health AND (smartphones OR tablets OR internet OR mobile device)
When using the Libraries Search (the search box on the Libraries homepage and linked below), limit Material Type in your search results to Articles if you want to just find scholarly research articles.
The search terms above, limited to articles, returns results such as:
- "Effects of three motivationally targeted mobile device applications on initial physical activity and sedentary behavior change in midlife and older adults: A randomized trial"
- "Investigating older adults' decisions to use mobile devices for learning, based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology"
- "A Systematic Review of Smartphone and Tablet Use by Older Adults With and Without Cognitive Impairment"
Libraries Search
- Libraries SearchSearch the University of Minnesota Libraries to find books, scholarly journal articles, news, magazines, media, and other items in the University's collection. View this tutorial to learn how to go from a general idea to a very precise set of results of journal articles and scholarly materials.
Tutorial: Let's talk databases: Libraries Search
This video introduces the Libraries Search database.
After viewing this video, you will be able to:
- Access the Libraries Search database
- Perform keyword searching
- Filter and sort search results
- View the Full text of articles or download a PDF
- Generate a citation right in the database
And finally: you will know how to get Library help if you need it!
Tutorial: Database search tips
Improve your searches! This guide will help you:
- Apply search modifiers AND, OR, and NOT to your database searches
- Recognize phrase searching and other advanced search techniques